MovieChat Forums > Dragnet (1987) Discussion > I THINK I Found a Bit of a Plot Hole...

I THINK I Found a Bit of a Plot Hole...


One of the P.A.G.A.N. crimes was the chemical train hijacking, and the theft of two deadly toxins, which when mixed probably in the correct ratio, form as liquid fertilizer that's clear as water, but gives off an aroma that burns the eyes, throat, and lungs, and if inhaled long enough, could result in violent vomiting and eventually death.

At the P.A.G.A.N. rally where Friday and Streebek were staking out, wasn't that what the pit was filled with when Connie was being sacrificed?

Then afterwards, when Commissioner Kirkpatrick ordered them off the investigation, Streebek says they can still follow-up on the theft of the chemicals, and that he supposedly has an informant in the narcotics department who knows the lab where they plan to mix them together.

So they DIDN'T already mix them together to fill up the pit where Connie was being sacrificed? I guess not, because they were all down their long enough to eventually die from inhaling it, and would be in agony from their eyes, noses, and throats burning.

So what exactly did they need the chemicals for the "liquid fertilizer" anyway? They used everything else they stole for the sacrifice: the bat, the lion's mane, the boa constrictor...

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I think they used the chemicals when they planned to kill the Mayor and Jerry Casear at his mansion. They didn't use them during the sacrifice.

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Oh yeah, because they were going to use it to "gas" them, I remember that now.

So then what was the pit at the sacrifice filled with then?

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Friday says later that it was just dirty water.

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"criminally polluted water"

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...and a great big snake

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Ya, I think the snake was the intended method of death...

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So then what was the pit at the sacrifice filled with then?


A giant snake...

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This isn't any kind of plot hole. It doesn't matter whether or not they used the fertilizer stuff in the pit they threw her in, because even if they did that doesn't mean they wouldn't have any left over.

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The biggest plot hole to me is why they didn't just call for back up after they left the Pagan ritual grounds... They could have gotten a mini army of police together and swarmed the grounds before they could have a chance to clean up. They would have netted just about every PAGAN member at the same time...

Instead, they drive Connie home and go back to the police station and wait for Captain Gannon to come in... Then they wait even longer to get Kilpatrick to go with them...

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Because then the movie only would've been 45 minutes.But seriously that is a good point. Stan: You can't fax glitter!Xander Crews: Not with that attitude!Stan: Not with any attitude!

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They might not have had the devices to call up for backup. Remember, Strebeck does it by using one of the Pagan phones later on.

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Totally agree with you in this situation. A real cop would have immediately radioed in for large group of back-up personnel to handle the situation before it had a chance to disperse or hide any evidence of their being in the location. Don't see the Pagans managed to clean the place up so rapidly in only a few short hours though, especially when everyone was in a crazed panic.

No, the big plot hole of the film concerns the firing of Friday at the restaurant. It did not make any sense. He had a viable and valuable eye witness that could go to court and testify against Whirley, as well as easily pass a lie detector if asked to recount the events at the Pagan gathering and her near-death situation. Yet, the captain and Commissioner Kilpatrick totally ignore this fact. That is just wrong.

"Wherever You Go, There You Are." - Buckaroo Banzai

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I agree, just watching it again and shading my head, Connie Swail says nothing to the captain??

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